I really like the illustrations, but what makes this book stand out is the narrator's voice. Doreen, a silly fish who doesn't see the danger in a hook or a heron, cheerfully exclaims, "Goody! A treat!" But the narrator is there to set the reader straight: "Oh, poor Doreen. No. It's a HOOK." "Yippee! I'm going on an outing!" cries Doreen. "Oh dear, Doreen. No. You're not," says the narrator. This could be a truly great little Weston Woods video with the right narrator. ( )

A rare ample roundy fish named Miss Doreen Randolph-Potts heads upstream to visit her second cousin twice removed, who'd just had 157 babies in this "fishy tale." Cheerfully oblivious, Doreen reacts positively to all the calamities that befall her, from being caught by a fisherman to being snatched up by a heron. Her cluelessness, in mistaking the heron for an egret, leads to her accidental liberation, and the continuation of her tale...

Although aware, as I read through Poor Doreen: A Fishy Tale, that the narrative here is meant to be amusing, somehow my elusive funny bone just wasn't tickled. Humor is quite individual, of course, so responses will vary, but I found myself thinking of the likely agony of a fish caught on a hook, or gasping for air when removed from the water, and just couldn't enter into the lighthearted spirit of Sally Lloyd-Jones' story. That said, I did like the back-and-forth between Doreen's perspective and the narrator's, I liked the use of letters - the heron has a neck like "an S for SPEAR" - and I found the artwork by Alexandra Boiger, who illustrated the adorable Tallulah books, quite cute. In sum: there's plenty here to recommend, provided the reader finds the tale funny. ( )

Clueless Doreen does not realize what a narrow escape she has. ( )

Lovely language, delightful story ( )